Whitewater Blog Tag: overnight

We should have ideal flows on the Upper Animas for the rest of the season. Book your rafting adventure today! For those looking for an epic day of whitewater rafting Class III-V, have a look at our specialty trip the Marathon. This trip includes 24 miles of whitewater in one day!

Our famous Raft’n Rail trip combines a Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge train ride with 12 miles of whitewater on the Middle Upper Animas. The Middle Upper Animas is mostly Class III-IV with one Class IV-V.

The Upper Animas Overnight offers up the same whitewater as the Marathon with a night of camping in the pristine Weminuche Wilderness.

If you are planning on being in Durango or Telluride in August, the Rockwood Box trip is perfect for beating the hot summer sun while experiencing a deep and steep river gorge.

Nothing like a trip down the Grand Canyon in a kayak! Ten days and 225 miles on the river with a group of friends for great kayaking, hiking and camping! Mix in a well timed High Flow Experiment (HFE) release of 36,000cfs and now you get a premier big water trip!

Lees Ferry Put-in

Here is the release from Glen Canyon Dam:

The powerplant can release a maximum of 21,000cfs, so they ramp up to that and then begin opening one overflow tube per hour until they get to 36,000cfs. The entire ramp up process happens in about six hours. We were on night 5 about 90 miles into the trip when the high water hit us. When we got to camp in the evening, the river was running 6k-9k cfs, when we woke in the morning, the river was flowing at the full capacity they were releasing and then some.

High flow taking over the Crystal Camp. Whitewater for breakfast!

What better place to have high water hit us than Crystal? We were impressed with the amount the river rose on the shoreline that night. We heard a rumor it would rise 4ft, try more like 8-10ft (I think Cruise said 20). The water took over camp, there was some 5am boat and tent moving that had to take place.

This was the possible release plan:

And this is what actually happened:

Here is a short video from Lava. The first clip is Cruise gutting it down the middle. He is so small out there!

We had an incredible memorial day weekend on the Upper Animas. We completed 2 Marathons, 1 overnight and a 3 day. River levels were perfect and we were able to run all the major drops. We are offering deep discounts on our next overnight trip scheduled for June 7-8. Contact us for more details. Enjoy this short clip from Broken Bridge Rapid shot on May 26, 2013.